The Independent National Electoral Commission have been ordered by the Federal High Court of Abuja on Thursday to permit the use of temporary voter cards in the next gubernatorial and state house of assembly elections, which are scheduled for March 18.
In the lack of Permanent Voter Cards, two Nigerians who felt wronged filed a lawsuit asking to utilize the Temporary Voter Card in the general elections.
The plaintiffs, Kofoworola Olusegun and Wilson Allwell, in the suit filed on February 8 and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/180/2023, challenged the position of INEC and asked the court to determine “whether a person whose name appears in the electronic format in INEC’s central database and manual, printed paper based record or hard copy format of the register of voters and has been assigned a Voter’s Identification Number can be said to be entitled to be accredited to vote with his/her TVC in the general election to be conducted by the defendant.”
The plaintiffs further asked the court to decide whether such a person can lose their right and eligibility to vote in the general election in 2023 as a result of INEC’s responsibilities and omissions.
They therefore prayed for the following reliefs in the event that their questions were answered favorably.
They asked for “a declaration that the plaintiff, having fulfilled all necessary legal requirements to register and having consequently been captured in its central database and manual, printed paper-based record or hard copy format of INEC’s maintained register of voters, the plaintiffs are entitled to vote using their TVC in the 2023 General Elections”.
The court ruled that there was no part of the law—neither the 1999 Constitution nor the Electoral Act—that specified that only PVCs could be used, and that instead, Section 47 of the statute allowed for the use of a voter’s card.
The order, according to Judge Egwuatu, was granted because the claimants had been properly registered and included in INEC’s database.
He ruled that, “an order is made compelling the defendant to allow the plaintiffs to vote using their Temporary Voter Cards issued by the defendant, the plaintiffs having been duly captured in the National Register of Voters database”.
The judge further held that the plaintiffs are entitled to vote using their TVC in the forthcoming 2023 general election “having fulfilled all necessary legal requirements to register and having consequently been captured in INEC’s central database and manual, printed paper-based record or hard copy format”.
But prayer number three, which asked that every qualified voter with a TVC be allowed to cast a vote, was denied.
“Any other order, the court may deem fit for all other Nigerians who are like the plaintiffs and have not gotten their permanent voter’s card, as the court may deem fit”
The judge held that the suit was not filed in a representative capacity.
The court maintained that, “This suit having not been brought in a representative capacity, I find myself unable to grant any relief pursuant to prayer three of the plaintiffs application.”
Victor Opatola, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said in a statement that the decision was a victory for all Nigerians who struggled to register to vote, were legitimately registered, but for no fault of their own were unable to obtain their PVCs before to the election.
He said, “since my clients had fulfilled all necessary requirements by law but were not issued their PVCs until the time for collection of PVCs was over, they should not be allowed to suffer”.
According to equity law, what pertained to the goose should equally apply to the gander, the attorney further claimed.
“So what the court is saying is that these two people who have fulfilled all necessary requirements can vote with their TVCs, then by law of equity, it should also apply to all Nigerians who have fulfilled all necessary requirements and were issued TVCs by INEC.”
In addition, he said that the only difference between the TVC and PVC was the type of plastic utilized for the PVC, not the composition.
